Hacienda Petac: “A little piece of Eden” December 22, 2011
Posted by Tracy in : Mexico, Uncategorized , 5comments
MERIDA, Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico – Finally, I can relax.
The sound of running spring water and the night noises of the jungle surround me, the toil and trouble of the city far behind.
This long-anticipated journey with my parents – their first to Mexico, and the first stamp on their brand-new passports – had gotten off to an admittedly bumpy start, what with a raucus all-night party in our hotel on the first night, getting lost in the chaos of the city’s Centro Historico, a virulent case of bronchitis for their driver and guide – yours truly – and too many other complications to mention. Had I made a mistake? My ailing father was exhausted – and this trip had been planned as a healing retreat for him.
But as we passed through the colorful towns on the outskirts of Merida and entered the ornate iron gate into the shady front courtyard of Hacienda Petac, I felt the tension dissolve. Marlene, one of more than a dozen Mayan women who attended to our every need during our stay, materialized from one of the three graceful arches of the hacienda with a traditionally embroidered dress, a beautiful smile and a tray of tempting red drinks.
My heart sank – I was sure they coudn’t be on my father’s diet. They almost certainly had sugar in them, and would be another disappointment. But there was Colleen, greeting us with a hug and a rundown of the ingredients: hibiscus tea and orange juice. Pure, simple and delicious. Dad reached for it and downed it, delighted.
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The Butterfly Effect: Julia Butterfly Hill in Magis October 20, 2011
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By Tracy L. Barnett
Magis Magazine
October 2011
“Fierce winds ripped huge branches off the thousand-year-old redwood, sending them crashing to the ground two hundred feet below. The upper platform, where I lived, rested in branches about 180 feet in the air … As the tree branches whipped around, they shredded the tarp that served as my shelter. Sleet and hail sliced through the tattered pieces of what used to be my roof and walls. Every new gust flipped the platform up into the air, threatening to hurl me over the edge.”
— Julia “Butterfly” Hill, The Legacy of Luna
It’s hard to say what was the most dramatic moment in that 738 days that Julia “Butterfly” Hill spent atop that platform in a redwood tree named Luna. Perhaps it was the day of that bitter storm and many others that ensued. Perhaps it was the day that a massive helicopter buzzed her tree and nearly blew her to her death with the 300 mph winds created by its updrafts. Perhaps it was the day that a fellow tree sitter had the rope he was standing on cut out from under him by “Climber Dan,” a logger hired by the timber companies to antagonize and remove intransigent activists from the trees they were trying to save from the loggers’ blades.
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Panama’s Ngorongoro: El Valle de Anton October 5, 2011
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On Day Two of our Panama adventure, we climbed 1,800 feet to the Valle de Anton to see the world’s second-largest volcanic crater – second only to the Ngorogoro in Tanzania. We were met by Ivan Hoyos of Ancon Expeditions, Panama’s only Virtuoso tour provider and a conservation-oriented company linked with one of Panama’s oldest conservation groups. Ivan, who is cited in Lonely Planet, is a lively interpreter of the country’s history, culture, ecology, and almost anything that might interest a traveler.
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A piece of paradise well worth the wait September 21, 2011
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It’s been a long commute from the time my alarm rang at 4 am until my taxi driver deposited me at the glistening lobby of the Bristol Buenaventura at 9 pm. There were times when I asked myself if I was crazy to take this assignment. Now that I’m here, I see that it would have been crazy not to.
Meet Anna and Dave, the Permacyclists July 14, 2011
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Meet Dave and Anna, the Permacyclists.
She was a corporate lawyer from Brussels; he was a sociologist from New York. Neither of them was happy with their chosen profession, and after a great deal of soul searching, they decided to do what many dream of but few actually do: They quit their jobs, studied permaculture, bought bicycles and headed off across Africa, pedaling and working their way through 12 countries, 12,000 kilometers and 16 months from organic farm to organic farm, sharing what they’d learned along the way.
Now they’ve landed in Mexico and are launching a Phase 2 of their journey, but with a difference. This time they’re bringing a video camera and sound equipment, and documenting the stories of people working on solutions to the many environmental problems they have learned about in their travels. Their goal is to make it to the Earth Summit in Rio in June 2012. And this time they’re going by bus, instead of bike, to give them time to do reporting, writing and producing for their blog.
I was inspired by their story and by their plan, since in some ways it parallels my own – so we got together and shared stories. Here’s a little bit of theirs.
Women’s Planting Day at the Kalpulli June 27, 2011
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The planning had taken a long time, and the date had been postponed three days in a row – rain, problems with the tractor, but Friday night, the word went out: The next morning would be the Siembra de Mujeres.
There had been collective plantings before, but it was the first time at Teopantli Kalpulli that the women joined to plant their own milpa, the traditional planting of corn, beans and squash. I have never planted a milpa before, and I was excited to join them. At 7:30 I was waiting in front of the temple, my brand new coa in hand (the coa, I had learned from these women, is a beautiful and ancient agricultural tool that opens the ground easily and smoothly for the insertion of a few seeds, without the planter needing to bend down).
The morning was fresh and bright, with a veil of clouds draped around the crowns of the mountains in the distance. The sun shone on an aromatic earth abundant with the rains of the previous week, but dry enough to crumble easily in the hands. It was indeed a good day to plant.
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Cali makes Nat Geo Traveler en Español June 17, 2011
Posted by Tracy in : Uncategorized , add a commentSo happy to see this piece finally out on the newsstands – Colombia in general, and Cali in particular, deserve all the publicity they can get as a fantastic travel destination. Colombia’s unspoiled forests, mountains and and beaches, vibrant cultural diversity and warm and welcoming people combined to make it the featured country for the Smithsonian Folklife Festival.
Travel to Colombia has doubled in the past five years, and the number of U.S. travelers has increased noticeably, as well according to Colombia’s Ministry of Commerce, Export and Tourism. Colombia has the world’s highest number of bird species; the second highest number of varieties of amphibians and plants; and is third in the diversity of its reptiles. Because of its environmental diversity and history, Colombia is home to some of the world’s most distinctive cultures and traditions, reported Maria Claudia Lacouture, president of ProExport, Colombia’s tourism agency.
Here’s my story featured in the June edition of National Geographic Traveler en Español, which is distributed all over Latin America and the U.S. I can vouch for the truth in its title – “Colombia Moves You.”
Here’s the link to the whole story, if you’d like to read it. Cali te Mueve
Rains of sadness, rains of joy April 18, 2011
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A beautiful and proud, but probably very guilty, neighborhood rooster
TEOPANTLI KALPULLI – I was watering my wilted sunflower seedlings when the first rains came. First one fat drop, and then two, and then a whole scattering. I laughed and ran to shut off the faucet, delighted that I had been wrong. I’d listened to the rolling thunder in the distance with wry skepticism. Better water those seedlings, I said to myself, the scant handful that had survived this week’s scorching sun. Maybe that will make it rain. And then it did.
The first rains in six months – I relished the exhilaration, the feel of the delicious drops falling on my face, pearly orange sky, rolling thunder in the distance. And then I remembered. Shades of Hiroshima, thousands dead, millions exposed to the assassin molecules that hover in the air in the wake of a nuclear disaster. I recalled what Marisol, the little girl next door, had said about the first rain: “When the rains come, they will be radioactive, and anybody who eats the fruit from the trees will get cancer,” she reported. I stopped smiling and ran for cover.
Official government reports on the fallout from the nuclear disaster in Japan are reassuring; the only hard data I am finding online, however, confirm that the rains reaching our side of the Earth are testing for radiation at levels higher than what the EPA considers safe. So, what to do?
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Super Full Moon in Virgo and Spring Equinox March 19, 2011
Posted by Tracy in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so farFriends, I wanted to share a special post from my sister, Tami Brunk, who offers an incredibly insightful newsletter about Earth and Sky at www.astrologyforearthrenewal.com. Today’s newsletter highlights tonight’s Super Full Moon and puts it into context.
Dear Friends,
We are nearing a 3-day period of incredible potency, from Saturday the 19 through Monday the 21.
Saturday the Full Moon at 29 Virgo is at perigee–the closest it has been to the Earth for 18 years. Sunday marks the Spring Equinox, and Monday Uranus conjoins with the Aries Sun.
When we engage ceremonially in these events of such cosmological significance with clear intentions and from the heart, magic happens. We are communicating with the Universe–we recognize the sacred patterning of which we are a part and our intention is to dance joyfully with it. We are willing to show up–in our beauty and uniqueness–to co-create with Great Mystery.
Ceremony need not be complex. The most magical moments in these next few days will be Saturday sunset and Sunday sunrise. In both instances we can tune into and experience the dynamic opposition of the Equinox Sun and Full Moon–rising and setting very close to the same time.
Many blessings,
Tami
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From sierra to sea: Huichols make their mark on Cancun December 16, 2010
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CANCUN – “Arriving at the ocean is very important; you can’t just walk up to it like it’s a common thing,” Antonio told us as we bumped along through the night on our way to Isla Blanca. “We consider the sea to be sacred; we come from the sea. We have to ask permission to be here.”
That’s how I found myself standing at the edge of the gleaming surf, saying a prayer of gratitude and tossing a chocolate cookie along with a 5-peso coin into the Caribbean along with my prayer. Antonio made an eloquent petition to the great spirits of the ocean and of the five directions sacred to the Wixarika people, asking for special attention during the climate summit proceedings – that everything go well for all of humanity, for those attending the COP-16 events, and for all the Earth.
The candle was offered to the sea as well, and a last gleaming spark scooted downwind along the edge of the surf: earth, wind, fire, water. There couldn’t have been a more perfect way to begin our mission, or the first visit to the Yucatan for all five of us.
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